Force and Stress I

Fundamental Quantities & Units of Rocks

 Mass: Dimension: [M] Unit: g or kg
 Length: Dimension: [L] Unit: cm or m
 Time: Dimension: [T] Unit: s
Velocity, v = distance/time = dx/dt
 Change in distance per time)
v =[L/T] or [LT-1] units: m/s or cm/s

Acceleration (due to gravity): g = velocity/time

 Acceleration is change in velocity per time (dv/dt).
g = [LT-1 ]/[T] = LT-2, units: m s -2
Force: F = mass . acceleration
 F = mg F = [M][LT-2]
 units: newton: N = kg m s-2
 Newton’s 1st Law
 Law 1. An object continues in its initial state of
rest or motion with uniform velocity unless it is
acted on by an unbalanced, or net external, force.
 The net force acting on an object, also called
the resultant force, is the vector sum of all the
forces acting on it.

 Mathematically, Law 1 is expressed as Fnet = S F

 where Fnet represents the net force, and SF
represents the vector sum of all of the forces acting
on a given object.
 Newton’s 2 nd Law
 The acceleration of an object is inversely
proportional to its mass and directly
proportional to the net force acting on it.
 Mathematically, Law 2 can be expressed as:
a = Fnet/m or Fnet = ma

where a = acceleration and m = the mass of the object

upon which the force is acting.

 Physicists define mass as an intrinsic property of an

object that is a measure of its resistance to
acceleration while acceleration is simply the
change in velocity over a change in time (i.e.
a=Dv/Dt)
Force
 A property or action that changes or
tends to change the state of rest or
velocity or direction of an object in a
straight line

 In the absence of force, a body moves at

constant velocity, or it stays at rest

 Force is a vector quantity; i.e., has

magnitude, direction
 Units of Force
 Two of the more common units of force are the dyne (d) and
newton (N)
 The units of a newton are kgm/s2 while those for a dyne are
gcm/s2
 A newton is the force required to impart an acceleration of
one meter per second per second to a body of one kilogram
mass
 A dyne is the force required to accelerate one gram of mass
at one centimeter per second per second
F = (mass)(acceleration) or
F = ma or F = mg F = [M][ LT-2]
newton: N = kg m s –2
dyne: gr cm s -2 1 N = 105 dyne
 Natural Forces
 Gravitational force
 Acts over large distances and is always attractive
 Ocean tides are due to attraction between Moon & Earth
 Thermally-induced forces
 e.g., due to convection cells in the mantle.
 Produce horizontal forces (move the plates)

 The other three forces act only over short ranges (atomic
scales). May be attractive or repulsive
 Electromagnetic force
 Interaction between charged particles (electrons)

 Nuclear or strong force

 Holds the nucleus of an atom together.

 Weak force
 Is responsible for radioactivity
Body Forces
 Any part of material experiences two types of
forces:
 surface & body

 Body Force: Results from action of a field at

every point within the body
 Is always present
 Could be due to gravity or inertia
 e.g., gravity, magnetic, centrifugal

 Its magnitude is proportional to the mass of the body

Surface Forces
 Act on a specific surface area in a body
 Are proportional to the magnitude of the area
 Reflect pull or push of the atoms on one side of
a surface against the atoms on the other side

 e.g., force of a cue stick that hits a pool ball

 force of the jaws of a vice

 Body forces give rise to spatial variations or

gradients on surface forces
Stress is Great!
 Forces applied on a body do either or both of the
following:
 Change the velocity of the body
 Result in a shape change of the body

 A given force applied by a sharp object (e.g.,

needle) has a different effect than a similar force
applied by a dull object (e.g., peg). Why?

 We need another measure called stress which

reflect these effects
Stress
 Stress is force per unit area
 It is the intensity of the force, i.e., how concentrated the force is
s = lim dF/dA when dA → 0

 A force acting on a small area such as the tip of a sharp nail or

base of high heel shoe, has a greater intensity than a flat-headed
nail or a snow shoe!
s = [MLT-2] / [L2]=[ML -1T-2]

 In the mks system of the SI system:

s = kg m-1 s-2 pascal (Pa) = newton/m2
 1 bar (non-SI) = 105 Pa ~ 1 atmosphere
 1 kb = 1000 bar = 108 Pa = 100 Mpa
 1Gpa = 109 Pa = 1000 Mpa = 10 kb
 P at core-mantle boundary is ~ 136 Gpa (at 2900 km)
 P at the center of Earth (6371 km) is 364 Gpa
Ten common units geologists use to describe stress
equivalent to 1 megapascal (MPa)

Units MPa Equivalent

megapascal (Mpa) 1

gigapascal (Gpa) 0.001

pascal (Pa) = N/m2 1,000,000

kg/cm2 10.197

d/cm2 100,000,000.000

bar (b) 10

kilobar (kb) 0.010

pounds per square inch (psi) 145.030

atmosphere (atm) ~ bar 9.869

Types of Stress
 Tension: Stress acts _|_ to and away from a plane
 pulls the rock apart
 forms special fractures called joint
 may lead to increase in volume

 Compression: stress acts _|_ to and toward a plane

 squeezes rocks
 may decrease volume

 Shear: acts parallel to a surface

 leads to change in shape